The Institutional Origins of Cringey Corporate Jargon

The Scourge of Nonsensical Corporate Jargon

"Jargon" refers to language that only means something to a specific group of people, such as a workplace. When it has something to do with that work, it functions perfectly well and rarely escapes into family or social life. Still, some phrases that turn out to be particularly useful get adopted into the greater world. Then there's corporate jargon, which has evolved into a whole dictionary of phrases that mean pretty much nothing, but it does p…

The Origins of Corporate Jargon: From ‘Drill Down’ to ‘Touch Base’

You open your inbox and there it is: your boss has “looped you in” to “pivot the strategy” and “drill down” for “key takeaways” before tomorrow’s “stand-up.” If you’ve ever wondered about the corporate jargon origins of these phrases, get ready to roll your eyes so hard you’ll see last quarter’s KPIs flash before you. But somehow… you reply anyway. “Sure, I’ll do a deep dive and circle back.” WHY. ARE. WE. LIKE. THIS. In a new episode of Otherwo…

The Institutional Origins of Cringey Corporate Jargon

Dr. Erica Brozovsky, PhD, of the PBS series Otherwords, explained how cringey corporate jargon originated with common terms from institutions such as the military, sports, and computers. In addition to defining the origins of office specific speak, Brozovsky also talked about how corporate jargon can be like loaded language in a cult, noting how it can determine status and pecking order. Sociolinguists argue that word choice plays a role in exp…